Railway officials to learn about high–speed trains in Italy

BAREILLY: In a move that heralds the beginning of the era of high-speed trains in the country, the first batch of 30 divisional railway managers (DRMs) are off to Italy to study the nitty-gritty of running and maintaining the track, the security aspects and other infrastructure required for such trains. The officials will attend a 15-day specially-designed course at SDA Bocconi School of Management in Milan.

The delegation, which includes DRMs of Izzat Nagar division, Bareilly, Lucknow and Firozpur, will gain expertise in running these trains at SDA Bocconi school of Management in Milan. Interestingly, DRMs of those areas where high-speed trains are scheduled to run have been chosen for the study course in the first phase.

In Delhi, Northern Railway spokesman Neeraj Sharma confirmed that the group, which left the country on September 8, are taking part in the training programme in Milan.

According to sources, the officials would be trained on the various aspects of making tracks fit for running high-speed trains, their maintenance and security aspects.

Another railway official, who did not wish to be named, said the government has decided to introduce high-speed trains on Mumbai-Ahmedabad, Chennai and Lucknow-Delhi routes in the first phase. Once the experiment succeeds, it will be extended to other routes. A survey of railway tracks on the above-mentioned train routes has already been made by a joint team of rail experts from South Korea and India. The team has already submitted a report to the ministry of railways which has to take the final call on this, they added.

According to sources, the ministry of railways has also chosen a site in Bareilly, along with two others in North India, where a factory manufacturing high-speed train engines is scheduled to be set up.